One Can Dream...

... of cooler days! It is another toasty day here, but I met my dear friend "K" at one of our favorite spots, Descanso Gardens, this morning for stitching and good conversation. She is working on quilt pieces for a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt and I started a cross stich pattern I had bought last year. I figured if I start now, I'll have it finished in another couple of "stitching days" we meet for and will be able to hang it on my Christmas tree this year! I thought it was apropos to stitch this on such a warm day. While we sat stitching, we were fascinated by the dragonflys that almost seemed to be dancing from flower-to-flower around the pond. There were three large orange ones and about four smaller blue ones that almost seemed to glow in the sunlight. I think I made good progress on my first Christmas ornament for this season!

Absolute Perfection

A week-and-a-half ago I met a dear friend for a walk at Descanso Gardens and lunch. After lunch, we went to a couple of local quilt shops where we each bought some fabric. After we said so long, I decided to go up to one of my favorite spots, that being Deukmejian Wilderness Park. The sky was absolutely stunning that day. It was very warm out, somewhere around 90 degrees, but there was a lovely breeze. I walked around the lower complex and ventured up one of the paths for a short distance, but not too far. There is a sign posted that a mountain lion has been spotted in the area and to be vigilent and not hike alone. This is one creature I never want to come anywhere near. I then found a bench under some pine trees and sat there taking in all the sights and sounds of this special place, high in the hills overlooking our lovely little valley and the Los Angeles basin in the distance. As I sat there with a wonderful breeze blowing, I was thinking that it didn't get much better than that. It was absolute perfection for that moment in time.

40 Years Ago Today

It's hard to believe that it was 40 years ago today when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. I still get a kick out of seeing it and hearing those famous words uttered by Neil Armstrong, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Cool.

Flashback Photo Friday

I thought I'd post a picture of my brother and I for "Flashback Photo Friday" (try saying that fast), since I'm working on a few things and I don't have much to share yet. I did have a very nice morning/afternoon with a dear friend and will share that with you soon.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm going to be spending tomorrow with three of my favorite guys tomorrow - my brother and my two adorable nephews. It should be fun!

Passing It Forward

I received this lovely blog award today from Marie Segal. I got home from doing errands and checked my email and found a rather "cryptic" comment on my last blog post. I proceeded to Marie's blog, "Art From My Heart", where I found that she had awarded me this lovely blog award. I am truly honored and surprised that my little blog would even be considered for such a lovely honor. I am inspired every day by all the talented ladies out there whose blogs I follow.

Ces created the award and you can read about it at her blog here: The Bella Sinclair Award. Ces wrote "I designed this award to celebrate art in the blogs and to honor the value of friendship, sisterhood, sharing and caring. It is to be awarded to the gifted, accomplished, eloquent and talented blogger whose friendship and influence inspire us to do our best. That I named it after Bella Sinclair is because she epitomizes all of these things. She is an inspiration to many of us."

I must say that there are so many bloggers out there who inspire me every day. Marie asked the recipients to "...go out and pick other sister friends, spread the crown, give shade and comfort and caring to your blog and sister friends". I am doing just that - here are some of my inspirations. Thank you Marie and thank you blog sisters for inspiring me every day. Now pass it on!

Nina Bagley: http://www.ornamental.typepad.com/
Farmlady: http://overgoodground.blogspot.com/
Ellen Bloom: http://www.ellenbloom.blogspot.com/
Heather: http://humblebeads.com/blog.html
Carmi: http://carmicimicata.blogspot.com/
Sally Jean: http://www.sallyjean.typepad.com/
Julie Haymaker Thompson: http://juliehaymaker.blogspot.com/
Barbe Saint John: http://barbesaintjohn.blogspot.com/
Amy Powers: http://inspireco.blogspot.com/

You Ladies Rock!

Have a Happy Fourth!

Here's wishing everyone an early Happy Fourth of July! We're having a BBQ with family and friends. My contributions are cupcakes and yogurt/Cool Whip pies. Our high school has fireworks every year which we can see them from our house, so we'll all just sit out on the front lawn and enjoy the show! We all laugh at each other's "ooohhhs and aaahhhs"!

What are your plans? Do you watch fireworks? Whatever you do, have a wonderful holiday.

The Fruits (and Veggies) Of My Labor

This year I am growing three kinds of tomatoes and red peppers. There is absolutely nothing more delicious or flavorful than homegrown tomatoes; ones that are store-bought don't even come close. Other fruits and herbs I have in my garden are "Gordon" apples, white figs, basil, rosemary, two kinds of thyme, mint, (all I need is parsley and sage and I can go to Scarborough Fair!), and blackberries. All the fruits and veggies are at different stages of becoming ripe; I've had a couple of tomatoes already and lots of basil. I love putting it in anything I can! One of my favorite summertime sandwiches is Horizon low-fat cream cheese, tomato, basil, and some Garlic & Herb Mrs. Dash. Can you say "Yum"?! Cream cheese and cucumber is also very good. I'm hoping that I can harvest my blackberries when they ripen before the squirrels or birds get to them. I had one lolely little blackberry that was almost ripe and "somebody" got to it before I could! I'm hoping that won't happen this time; we'll see. The apples are so good in pies - my mom bakes a mean apple pie! I need to get her recipe and try making one this summer. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get those apples at the top of the tree - it will be "interesting" to say the least! My brother's birthday is in September and he always requests mom's apple pie for his birthday dessert. I must say that it is a little difficult to put candles in pie crust!

My father planted the fig tree from a cutting that my uncle gave to him. Figs are not my favorite (it's a texture thing), but I have quite a few friends that like them so I will be able to indulge them with figs this summer. I think I may try finding recipe to bake some fig-type bars or cookies.

Do you have any fruits, veggies or herbs growing, and if so, which ones?